Photo: © Avalon

Jim Carrey is willing to return for a 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' sequel – as long as it is in motion capture.

The 62-year-old star played the titular role in the 2000 festive classic and would only do so again if it didn't involve the "excruciating" process of putting his green alter ego's makeup on.

Jim told ComicBook.com: "Oh, gosh, you know, if we could figure out the Grinch.

"The thing about it is, on the day, I do that with a ton of makeup and can hardly breathe. It was an extremely excruciating process."

He continued: "The children were in my mind all the time. 'It's for the kids. It's for the kids. It's for the kids.' And now, with motion capture and things like that, I could be free to do other things. Anything is possible in this world."

'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' proved a hit at the box office but the effort required to get Carrey into character was also gruelling for makeup artist Kazuhiro Tsuji - who found that the 'Bruce Almighty' star was difficult to work with.

Tsuji told Vulture in 2018: "In the makeup trailer he just suddenly stands up and looks in the mirror, and pointing on his chin, he goes, 'This colour is different from what you did yesterday.'

"I was using the same colour I used yesterday. He says, 'Fix it.' And okay, you know, I 'fixed' it. Every day was like that."

Jim has made his film comeback as villain Dr. Robotnik in the new movie 'Sonic the Hedgehog 3' and revealed that he did so because he needs the cash after blowing through his savings.

He told reports when asked why he has come out of 'retirement': "I came back to this universe because, first of all, I get to play a genius, which is a bit of a stretch.

"And, you know, it’s just… I bought a lot of stuff and I need the money, frankly."

Carrey revealed while promoting the second 'Sonic the Hedgehog' movie in 2022 that he was "fairly serious" about his plans to retire from acting.

The 'Ace Ventura: Pet Detective' star explained: "Well, I'm retiring. Yeah, probably. I'm being fairly serious.

"It depends. If the angels bring some sort of script that's written in gold ink that says to me it's going to be really important for people to see, I might continue down the road, but I'm taking a break."

Carrey continued: "I really like my quiet life and I really like putting paint on canvas and I really love my spiritual life and I feel like – and this is something you might never hear another celebrity say as long as time exists – I have enough. I've done enough. I am enough."